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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23519926">Lilacs and Daffodils</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/welpslytherin/pseuds/welpslytherin'>welpslytherin</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Sex Education (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Blow Jobs, Kissing, Light Angst, M/M, Season 2 AU, Wet Dream</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 14:08:07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,958</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23519926</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/welpslytherin/pseuds/welpslytherin</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Rahim is supposedly the perfect boyfriend, but something (or someone) gravitates Eric elsewhere.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Eric Effiong/Adam Groff</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>99</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Lilacs and Daffodils</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p><a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/4tERsdVCLtLtrGdFBf9DGC?si=WPF_KXZoS1iavuq4GakoWQ">New by Daya</a> is the perfect song for Eric and Adam, imo. It's a great song and it goes well with this fic!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em> Brown hair, brown eyes. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> Pink lips. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> They roam down his body, tasting and ravishing, sending jolts of pleasure through every nerve ending he makes contact with. It's maddening and he doesn't want it to stop. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> "Do you want this?" Adam asks. When he looks down at him, Adam's eyes are pleading, pale cheeks flushed and reddening. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> Eric nods once. "Yes." </em>
</p><hr/><p> </p><p>"Hey love."</p><p>Eric jumps a little when Rahim sidles up next to him, leaning against the locker beside his and smiling that sodding smile that has Eric's and everyone else’s insides morph into a gooey mess. But it's not what he wants. Rahim doesn't fill his stomach with a deep, inexplicable desire. Rahim doesn't make his heart race or his adrenaline pump like it's chasing electricity. </p><p>"Hi." Eric smiles and concedes when the other boy leans in for a kiss. His lips are pink and slot perfectly with Eric's, wet and pliant.</p><p>"Missed you," Rahim says when they pull away. The guilt that washes over Eric is called for and it makes him queasy, the appropriate response dying in his throat.</p><p>"I—yeah," he croaks out. Eric clears his throat, pulling a textbook out of his locker before closing it. </p><p>"Are you coming over today?" Rahim asks, unfazed, eyebrows shooting up expectantly. </p><p>"I actually have a lot of work to catch up on, Rahim," Eric replies, trying to keep his voice as neutral as possible. "Maybe next week?"</p><p>His shoulders sag dejectedly, but he manages a weak smile. "Of course."</p><p>Eric debates leaning in for another kiss, but then the decision is made for him when Rahim encircles Eric in his arms and presses his lips to his, hard and desperate. Eric relents, because what else can he do? He parts his lips when Rahim prods them open. He pushes back when Rahim curls his tongue around his. He thinks of Adam. Eric pulls away, cheeks flushing.</p><p>“I--” he croaks, and then clears his throat. Rahim looks flustered, disoriented from their heated kiss. Eric continues, “I have to get to class.” He chuckles like it was the most normal thing in the world, like he isn’t fucking in love with Adam sodding Groff. </p><p> Rahim returns a warm smile. He doesn’t even bother to cover up the bulge in his trousers. “See you later?”</p><p>“Yeah.” Eric turns around and walks. He doesn’t look back.</p><hr/><p> </p><p>He’s here again.</p><p>Of course, he is. </p><p>Eric squeezes his eyes shut and wills himself to stop fucking <em> wanting </em> . The stones continue to knock at his window. <em> Pop pop pop </em>. He forces himself to stop thinking of creamy skin and brown irises. </p><p><em> Pop pop </em>.</p><p>His heart bangs around in his ribcage as though trying to break its way out. He can’t do this.</p><p><em> Pop pop pop </em>.</p><p>The blood pounding in his head is not enough to drown out the sound of Adam—the rocks against the glass or the breathy moan he will release when Eric bites the spot in the warm curve of skin between his shoulder and neck. The spot that only <em> he </em> knows. </p><p>But then his body is making the decision for him and before he knows it, he’s dressed and tip-toeing down the stairs and out the front door. </p><p>“Hey,” Adam greets when he sees him. Not <em> What took you so long? </em> Or <em> Do you know how long I’ve been waiting here? </em> Just <em> Hey </em>.</p><p>He’s wearing his signature denim jacket but he looks better than usual, his demeanor lax and composed. Not ramrod straight like he did after he came back from that military school. It suits him and Eric finds himself wanting to undo him right then and there. But he needs to talk to him, tell him this is the last time, that this isn’t going to work, that they’re too different. “Hey,” Eric replies and all rational thought slips away like sand through his fingers.</p><p>“Let’s go,” the taller boy rumbles and starts to walk in the direction to the site of the trashed cars. <em> Their </em>site. It makes Eric’s heart ache for what he can’t have. </p><p>He follows him, trailing just a few inches behind, not enough to touch but enough to feel the warmth emanating from his back. He stares at the denim jacket that covers the skin that Eric <em> knows </em> is waiting for him. For his touch. And oh, how he wants to. </p><p>They pass the time shattering used liquor bottles and old plates like they always do. They never make it past the third item though, before Adam is on him, hard and unrelenting, and Eric meets him with the same wanton passion. </p><p>They roll around in the grass and dirt, laughing and swearing at each other in between sloppy open-mouthed kisses. When the dirt from his hair falls onto Adam’s face as he gazes down at him, he attempts to wipe it away, but ends up smearing the brown debris on his cheek. </p><p>“Bastard,” Adam laughs and curls his fingers around Eric’s neck, pulling him down for another kiss. It’s short and sweet and Eric lets himself drown in it, lingering kiss after kiss. It’s moments like these when Eric lets himself believe that he could be happy. That Adam could be welcomed into his life without everyone around him, including himself, telling him he’s making a mistake.</p><p>But then, “I love you.” </p><p>Eric stops, freezing up and staring into muddy pools that tug at him and threaten to engulf him in their emotional tide. They are filled with lust and hope and something like...fondness. Genuine and valiant, all things he never showed to anyone else but Eric. Guilt and awe—these emotions war between themselves, each threatening to overwhelm the other. He doesn’t know what to say, except, “Adam…”</p><p>“I love you...Eric,” Adam reiterates and it hurts. “Be with me.”</p><p>This is it, this is the moment where he has to decide. He feels like he could vomit. “I—I can’t.”</p><p>The pain in Adam’s eyes is clear and Eric can pinpoint that exact moment the other boy pulls up his defenses and hides it from him, his jaw tensing and his expression turning neutral. “Whatever. I get it.”</p><p>“You don’t understand,” Eric starts but Adam is pushing him off and he lands on his back and elbows and his heart is in his throat because this is <em> not </em> how this was supposed to go. “Wait.”</p><p>But Adam ignores him and Eric can’t be sure but he thinks he sees tears glimmering in the other boy’s eyes before he turns away and leaves him alone in the darkness.</p><hr/><p> </p><p>The night of the play rolls around slowly. Eric spends the day in bed as afternoon bleeds into dusk. The ringing of the doorbell calls Eric into the present and makes him realize just how long he’s been drowning in his thoughts. </p><p>He has never put together an outfit so quickly in his life and Eric finds himself in a multicolor silk jacket over a salmon skull-print shirt paired with olive green trousers and purple sneakers. It is the epitome of a disaster but there is no more time. </p><p>When he climbs down the stairs, his heart in his throat, Eric looks into the wrong face, green eyes instead of brown. Holding the wrong flowers, lilacs instead of daffodils. Eric takes them anyway, inhaling the rich almost-cloying scent that reminds him of Aunt Iris’s heady perfume.</p><p>“They’re beautiful,” he says and Rahim smiles. It doesn’t reach his eyes like it usually does. </p><p>“Shall we?” He lets out his arm for Eric to take, because of course he does. His mother yells ‘Have fun, you two!’ before they walk out and shut the door behind them. </p><p>“Are you nervous?” Rahim asks. </p><p><em> You could say that </em>, Eric grimaces, his fingers tensing impetuously on Rahim’s arm. He doesn’t know if Adam’s going to be there. He had told him about weeks ago. Before the reality of the situation came crashing down on him. </p><p>“A little,” he finally answers, stuttering out a ragged breath. “Rahim…”</p><p>“Are you breaking up with me?”</p><p>It takes him by surprise and when Eric looks into his boyfriend’s eyes, there is an unmasked <em> anger </em> so strong that it almost makes him regret bringing it up. </p><p>“Yeah,” he says instead. “Yes.”</p><p>Rahim nods and shakes Eric’s hand off him, as though disgusted. He turns away and Eric inhales sharply at the realization that the other boy was crying. </p><p>“Rahim—” </p><p>“It’s Adam, isn’t it?” He says, and the clarity of the pain in his eyes spears through Eric. “You want him more?”</p><p>There’s no point in lying. Eric nods. “I’m really sorry.”</p><p>“Don’t.” Rahim sniffles and then exhales, long and ragged. Silence lapses between them, the tension so thick it could be sliced with a knife. And then finally, “I’m going home.” </p><p>Eric nods.</p><p>He rides his bike to school alone. There are already a crowd of students at the entrance, bustling with activity accelerated with the typical hubbub of energetic chatter and sexual attraction. Eric finds Otis among them and when he asks about Rahim, he tells him the truth. That they broke up. When he asks why, he tells him it’s complicated. They don’t see each other for the rest of the evening. </p><p>The play is as disastrous and magnificent as Eric expects it to be and he laughs along with Lily and Ola when they see the slack jawed looks of the teachers in the audience. He can barely distinguish each costume from another, all the colors and lights merging into fluorescent hues of charged energy. The music enhancing the vibrant atmosphere. </p><p>When Adam comes up on stage, Eric’s blood stops. When he holds out his hand, he feels his heart stagger in his chest. And when he takes it, the world explodes around them. </p><p>“I love you,” Eric breathes, not caring if Adam heard him or not. But the smile he returns is knowing and brilliant and Eric is sure he did. The booing and cheering of the crowd turns into white noise as Eric gets swept up in the moment—the warm press of Adam’s palm against his, the fluttering of his pulse in pursuit of the million thoughts running through his mind. </p><p>It’s over, too soon, and the music starts again, resuming the temporarily postponed debacle of a play. His heart thunders as Adam leads him backstage, the thrill of what just happened still thrumming in his veins. “Adam,” Eric gasps, erupting into laughter because it feels fucking <em> liberating </em> . Because he <em> took </em> Adam Groff’s <em> hand </em> in front of the entire school and he doesn’t give a <em> shit </em> and all the worrying and anxiety he had been putting himself through seems absolutely silly now.</p><p>“I got you something,” Adam says. </p><p>“Oh?” </p><p>Adam leads him outside the school. The fresh air is cool and invigorating and Eric inhales, stretching his arms out and whistling. Then Adam leaves him on the steps and Eric shouts, “Where are you going?”</p><p>He doesn’t reply, instead looking back and flicking him a wink before hopping down the last step and disappears into a thicket of bushes. A moment passes and Eric is considering following him and walks down. </p><p>But then Adam appears again, a bouquet of daffodils in his hand while the other cards through his brown locks, tucking them behind his ear after mussing it up, bashful at his own gift. Eric is too shocked to say anything and stands there agape. Adam chuckles at the look on Eric's face, his smile reaching his ears and excitement and hope evident in his eyes. Then he strolls to Eric, the flowers bright and beautiful in his hands, as though they have all the time in the world. And in a way, they do.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Lilacs symbolize purity and innocence which I used to refer to Rahim. Daffodils represent new beginnings and they're for Adam and Eric :) Kudos and comments are appreciated!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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